Ireland - Cell Phone?
 

Hi all,

I'll be in Ireland for a little over a week in October. I realized my U.S. carrier (Verizon Wireless) won't work in Ireland. Can someone please explain my options?

I'm not looking for anything fancy or expensive, and I also don't plan on using it much except for possible directions or calls to B&Bs if running late. As we will be traveling quite extensively by car, I would feel much safer having one. Thanks!

Do you travel to Europe from time to time?

Do you travel to Australia from time to time?

Do you have relatives who do so?

The easiest thing to do, of course, is to ditch Verizon and sign up with either cingular or T Mobile and use their international roaming (I think Verizon's supposed advantage over Cingular and T Mobile is somewhat overrated...gsm is a world standard and much more flexible than verizon's technology).

Or you can buy an inexpensive unlocked gsm dual band (900/1800) or tri band (900/1800/1900) or quad band phone and upon arrival in Ireland buy a prepaid sim package...there is a vodafone IE store right in the arrival area of Dublin airport and the sim pack is relatively inexpensive.

Or you can buy the mobal package we've read about here and use their ridiculously high rates for the odd call here or there you're going to make.

Lots of possibilities but it starts with knowledge of just what your present (you've made those clear) and future intentions regarding the mobile phone are.

For such a short trip and for just the few calls you are talking about -- I wouldn't even bother w/ a cell phone. You can buy a phone card in any newsagent/shop and use it for calls w/i Ireland and back home for just pennies a minute. The cards are easy to use and VERY economical. €5 or €10 will be enough for lots of calls - even international.

I second janisj's advice: buy an Eircom phone card (the kind that has the I/C chip on the card). I believe they are sold in 7 and 12 Euro denominations - and the eircom phones are all over the place.
I would advise against the phone cards that require you to call an '800' number - they're just too much hassle

Phone cards are very cheap for making calls but I'm sorry they do not begin to compare with the convenience of a cell phone especially the point about having a cell phone in the car if god forbid something happens in the middle of nowhere and there isn't a public phone available. Also phone cards do not solve the problem of being reachable in case of an emergency.

In this day and age, it need not be expensive to get a gsm phone and prepaid service with an Irish carrier just for the safety factor alone.

Sorry - but I disagree. Sure, a cell phone is a great convenience. But even the cheapest is not economical for a week's trip. If netak had to be in constant contact w/ folks back home and have them in constant contact w/ him - then a cell phone is the way to go.

But millions of travelers manage very nicely every year w/o even a phone card let alone a cell phone. I feel the same way about GPS - if you can read a map they are not necessary. All the toys are nice but they aren't must-have's.

...what changes the equation in this case is the fact he will be renting a car..I'm sorry to disagree but in this day and age I wouldn't dream of getting into any car without a cell phone just in case...you just never know.

You know, we've all come a long way...things that are common place today were not heard of a few years ago...millions of people take trips today without phone cards and that's true but in many case it's because of a lack of knowledge of costs etc.

Would you like to be in an automobile and have some sort of problem and then have to start looking for a public phone to call for help? I sure wouldn't.

...just to finish the thought...if the op had a provider with international roaming possibilities I would tell him just to rely on the international roaming of his home network despite the high costs...I agree being reachable easily 24/7 is a matter of personal opinion...what complicates the situation in his case is his home carrier is verizon which does not use gsm...you know one of those things where the USA, please don't flame me for saying this, was slow to adopt the idea of globalization something Europeans did in 1990 when they settled on gsm as their predominant cellular technology...

So while I agree that having a cell phone is a matter of personal choice and that it is more expensive than using a calling cards, there are some very valid reasons, at least IMHO, that make it almost indispensable and getting into an automobile, at least in this day and age, is one of them!

A trip to Europe just about anywhere costs money.

I don't consider an allotment of under $100 of the expense of the trip for a phone is too much. You can buy a phone for that amount, make your calls and then take the phone home with you.

Considering the cost of the trip it is a small amount to pay for peace of mind.

It is not difficult to buy an unlocked phone on Ebay even. Take it with you and buy a SIM when you get there at the airport. Even if the phone is locked, it can be unlocked.

I wouldn't travel to Europe again without my phone and I am the most challenged person on technology that you are likley to meet.

Thank you to everyone who replied to my initial question.

I was looking for a cell phone solely for emergencies or last minute directions if lost, not for personal phone calls. A calling card would have been sufficient had I been staying in the city the entire trip, but a good portion of it will be on the road.

The unfamiliarity of the land (and a rental car which probably won't be in tip top shape!) were my main reason for wanting to have a cell phone.

I can't imagine being on the road in my own familiar state (especially as I'm female) without a cell phone, let alone a foreign country.

It's all about peace and mind. :) I'll probably look into the option of the unlocked phone/sim card. Thanks guys!!

I'm going to Ireland also, in July 07 for 2-4 weeks. Wondering if anyone has used these phones: LG C1300, Nokia nok 1100, motorola v180, motorola C350. They are available on-line for under $100 each.
I want to buy 2 phones for for my wife and I, and am afraid of poor reception. Anyone have experience with these?
Thank you,
Paul

Hi-I'm just starting my trip report. I bought an unlocked gsm Motorola V66 off eBay for $40 including shipping. When I got to Shannon I went to the Sky Court mall and bought an O2 SIM card. The only problem I had was I didn't realize I had to manually go into the phone's settings and change it to the 900/1800 frequency. I called the O2 helpline and they were incredibly helpful. They checked to make sure the SIM was good and then they even downloaded the phone manual and walked me though changing the settings. After that it was a breeze! All incoming calls were free but calls to the US cost about 2 euro/minute. However, I bought phone cards (the Planet cards gave me the best rates) and the toll free number only cost me a few cents to call from me cell phone. A 20 euro Planet card gave me 4 hours of talk time from my cell phone to a US cell phone, which I thought was excellent. I was a single traveler driving, so I mostly wanted the phone for safety reasons. And my future father in law was very ill, so I wanted to have an easy way to be reached at all times. The SIM cost me 20 (25? something like that) and it came with 5 euros of talk time and I bought a 10 euro top-up right away and a 5 euro top-up later in the trip and that took care of me for two weeks. So for less than a hunded euro my family and I had piece of mind for the trip. It was definitely worth it and I love to travel, so I'm sure I'll use it again.

I was just at Dublin Airport this morning. There is a Vodaphone store there. 59 euro to buy a phone and that includes 20 euro of time. No such store in Shannon.

PaulH I used a Motorola V180 in Ireland this summer. It worked great! I bought it off e-bay. I bought a sim card at Vodaphone in the Dublin airport. They were very helpful, they even loaded the sim card in for me and made sure it worked. I didn't want to run out of minutes so twice in my 2 week trip I poped into a Vodaphone store and they checked my remaining minutes for me. I wasn't sure how to check the minutes and they were very nice about helping me. I also used a costco calling card to do all my long distance calling back to the states with my phone. That way the calls to the US only used local minutes. The only trouble I had with the phone, was not the phone it was the operator (ME). In those cases I just found a teenager and they showed me what I was doing wrong. The Irish people are so very nice and everyone we met was more than happy to help. That phone was one of the best tips I have gotten off of Fodor's. It was great to be able to call ahead to the B&B's we were staying at and know if we had some kind of car mishap we had a phone. Have a great trip. I loved Ireland and I am planning my next trip.

As xyz123 started out saying, you can go just about anywhere in the world and use an unlocked 900/1800 MHz GSM phone, so it could come in handy for future travel. If it's a tri/quadband model you can use it in North America too. About the only exception would be Japan.